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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported September 28 that COVID-19 cases fell by a small number last week and hospitalizations increased for the second consecutive week. Both measures are still considered "Low." Total cases for the week fell from 581 to 550. Hospitalizations increased from 39 to 52; there were 30 the previous week.
There were 19 COVID-related fatalities in August and 4 so far in September, for a pandemic total of 719 (the VDH report could be updated as more data becomes available). Vermont has the lowest COVID death rate in the nation, at 115 per 100,000 population. The last reported COVID-related fatality was on September 13.
As of this report, there were a total of 14 outbreaks, with 12 in the school/childcare segment. This is the same as last week, which is lower than at the beginning of the school year, when there were 25, with 17 in the school/childcare segment.
The new Omicron boosters are available now through state walk-in clinics and some pharmacies and will become more available in the coming weeks.
Vermonters are reminded that all state COVID testing sites were closed as of June 25. PCR and take-home tests will be available through doctors' offices, pharmacies and via mail from the federal government. Take home tests are also available at the state walk-in booster clinics. See more information BELOW or here: https://www.healthvermont.gov/covid-19/testing
Vermont's COVID-19 Community Level is LOW.
The following indicators are all in the LOW range:
New: Starting September 21, 2022, the weekly COVID-19 surveillance report includes the number of new outbreaks that were reported during the report week. This provides a clearer picture of current outbreak activity than the total number of active outbreaks. The definition of "active outbreak" is defined differently across sectors and can include a range of situations, including ongoing transmission or no new infections in 3-4 weeks.
Outbreaks and situations of concern in long-term care, corrections, and health facilities remains significantly lower than in May 2022.
The volume of people going to emergency departments due to COVID-like symptoms is similar to that during the same time of year in 2021.
There is nothing of immediate concern in Vermont's wastewater data, which tends to show weekly variation but overall remains significantly lower than the Spring of 2022.
Statewide community levels: Low. For this seven-day reporting period, the rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Vermonters is below 200. New COVID-19 admissions are below 10 per 100,000 Vermonters per day, and the percent of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 is below 10%. • New COVID-19 cases, last 7 days: 88.14 per 100k (93.11 per 100k last week) o Weekly case count: 550 (decrease from last week, 581) • New hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19, last 7 days: 8.33 per 100K (6.25 per 100K last week) o 52 total new admissions with COVID-19 (increase from previous week, 39) • Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 (7-day average): 3.46% (increase from previous week, 3.17%)
Vermont Department of Health recommendations: Protect Yourself & Others
CDC recommendations: COVID-19 by County | CDC
There were 49 COVID-19 related fatalities in Vermont in September 2021, and 47 deaths in October, which are the fifth- and sixth-worst months on record. There were 42 fatalities in November, 62 in December, and 65 in January 2022, 59 in February, 17 in March, 19 in April and 32 in May, as fatalities rose early in the month before falling off. There were 12 deaths in June and 12 in July. There were 19 COVID-related fatalities in August and 4 so far in September.
The Delta variant caused a surge in COVID-related fatalities last fall and into the winter. More than half of all deaths overall have been of Vermonters 80 or over.
While the highest concentration of deaths was from September 2021 through February 2022, December 2020 was the worst month with 71.
Vermont has the lowest fatality rate in the US (115 per 100K), recently surpassing Hawaii (117/100K). Mississippi (431/100K) and Arizona (428/100K) are the highest. There has been a total of 1,055,195 COVID-related deaths to date in the US and 6,530,976 globally.
Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, has said the BA.5 variant is highly transmissible and has caused an uptick in cases and hospitalizations across the nation; the Northeast has seen the smallest increase.
The state has set up walk-in clinics for the new, reconfigured vaccines and boosters. They are open now. See list HERE. The CDC gave approval to the new Omicron vaccines on August 31. The highly infectious, though less dangerous, BA.4 and BA.5 variants have come dominant this year.
Vermont Health Commissioner Dr Mark Levine said last week he is not quite willing to say the pandemic is over, especially with fall's arrival and the flu season coming. Last fall saw a vast increase in cases and deaths after a quiet summer. President Biden suggested two weeks ago that the pandemic was over. There has been some question about whether we have entered an endemic phase with the coronavirus, similar to the seasonal flu.
Dr Levine believes that vaccines for the COVID virus would likely be an annual event, similar to how there is an annual flu shot that is configured for the particular active strains.
The updated booster is for people 12 and older who have completed their primary COVID-19 vaccine series and received their last booster or additional dose at least two months ago. Look for Pfizer Bivalent Booster 12+ and Moderna Bivalent Booster 18+ in the list of walk-in clinics. Bivalent boosters are also available at some pharmacies across the state beginning this week. Contact pharmacies directly for details on available products and scheduling. Boosters will be arriving in doctors' offices in the coming weeks.
1 All Vermont hospitals and two urgent care clinics are included in ESSENCE.
At-home antigen tests (also called rapid tests or self-tests) meet many testing needs and are widely available at pharmacies around the state and at online retailers.
If you cannot get at-home antigen tests from the options above, you can call the Health Department at 802-863-7200, or check with your local health office.
Non-profit community organizations may qualify for free at-home tests by mail if they work with Vermonters who may have difficulty getting tests due to overall systemic inequities. This includes Vermonters who are Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC), speak languages other than English, are experiencing homelessness, have a disability or other groups. Please email AHS.COVIDTesting@vermont.gov.
Food shelves, libraries, and municipal offices who are interested in distributing COVID-19 at-home tests in their community can also email AHS.COVIDTesting@vermont.gov.
If you are homebound, you can get a PCR test in your home. Homebound means you are not able to leave your home for scheduled medical care or non-medical appointments. Call 802-863-7200 (toll-free 800-464-4343), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Translated videos on where to get tests from the Vermont Language Justice Project: ASL | العربية (Arabic) | မြန်မာစာ (Burmese) | دری (Dari) | English | Français (French) | Kirundi | Maay Maay | Mandarin | नेपाली (Nepali) | پښتو (Pashto) | Soomaai (Somali) | Español (Spanish) | Kiswahili (Swahili) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Many test expiration dates have been extended. Check information below for new dates by brand:
FDA information on tests. Check Intrivo on/go tests. Check iHealth tests. Check FlowFlex tests.
If you test positive and you are age 65 or older or have a medical condition that may put you at risk, reach out to your health care provider to ask about treatment — as soon as you get a positive test result. Learn more about treatment.
Find tips and learn more from the CDC about self-testing
If there is no option to automatically report your self-test result, please report results (positive or negative) to the Health Department using our online form. Your response is confidential, and reporting your test result helps the Health Department understand how many Vermonters are being tested for COVID-19 and how the virus is spreading in our communities.
Report your COVID-19 test results
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